Typically a ripper mounted on construction equipment such as a tractor is manually controlled by the operator who raises or lowers the ripper shank or varies the ripper pitch based upon experience, ground conditions, vehicle speed and other working conditions. Ripper depth is typically adjusted by removing a pin from the ripper shank and repositioning the shank relative to the ripper carrier and reinserting the pin. This effectively changes the length and potential depth of the ripper. This naturally requires operator time to reposition the ripper using the pin, and requires considerable skill and experience on the part of the operator to determine the desired depth to minimize the changes that need to be made to ripper length.